Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Undefeated Popple is the lone WVC wrestler still in the hunt for gold.
Coughlin’s Josh Popple (back) controls his 189-pound opponent, Haddon Corbett of Harriton, during their quarterfinal match at the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships. Popple won a 7-3 decision to advance to today’s semifinals.
ED BOARDMAN/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Chad Hoffman of Hazleton Area (back) moves in on Grant Dickey of Cedar Cliff during their 171-pound consolation bracket match during Friday’s PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships.
ED BOARDMAN/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
HERSHEY — For the second consecutive day, Josh Popple skipped into the stands at Giant Center immediately after his match in the PIAA Class 3A Championships.
That was a good sign for the Coughlin 189-pounder because it may just be a winning tradition for the senior.
Popple became the only Wyoming Valley Conference athlete to advance to the championship round on Friday with a 7-3 victory over Harriton’s Haddon Corbett. The Crusaders star, who improved his record to 43-0, advances to today’s 8 a.m. semifinals to face Kiski Area’s Matt McCutcheon (40-2).
Popple also kept a streak alive for the conference. By winning his quarterfinal bout, he made it 10 consecutive years that a WVC wrestler has advanced to the final four in any weight class.
McCutcheon is just one of two Pennsylvania wrestlers to defeat Perry Hills from Pittsburgh Central Catholic this season. And Hills is responsible for one of the two losses on the record of defending state champion Kenny Courts from Central Dauphin.
Courts got revenge on Hills in Friday’s quarters with a 6-4 win. Courts (45-2) will square off with unbeaten John Bolich (39-0) from Upper Moreland in the other 189 semifinal.
“We’re all pretty close in talent and everything, so I just got to come (today) and it’s either me or him,” Popple said. “Whoever wrestles hardest and whoever comes out to wrestle hardest is going to win it.”
The rest of Popple’s WVC peers didn’t fare as well Friday afternoon, as four of the five who made it through Day 1 couldn’t make it through the second day. The only other D2 3A wrestler to advance to the medal rounds was Hazleton Area’s Chad Hoffman at 171 pounds, as two grapplers from the Lackawanna League couldn’t survive either.
Popple is the only District 2 grappler still fighting for gold in either Class 3A or Class 2A.
“It’s disappointing seeing some of my fellow District 2 kids go down, and I didn’t like to watch it, but someone’s got to keep on going,” Popple said.
First, Crestwood 189-pounder Mike Mirra dropped his quarterfinal match to Bolich, by a pin in 1:25, to fall into the consolations. Mirra then lost a close 3-1 match to Dallastown’s Phil Sprenkle and was eliminated.
Then Pittston Area’s Michael Domarasky lost in the second round of consolations and was eliminated in the 112-pound class. His teammate, Jason Laboranti (215 pounds), lost a tough match to Parkland’s Tarek Haddad and was also dispatched.
In between the two Patriots’ matches, Hazleton Area’s Tim Samec lost for the third time this season to Northampton’s John Lambert at 152 and was also sent home without a medal.
Samec also lost to Lambert at last weekend’s Northeast Regional Tournament.
“I’m feeling really bad for him because he’s a senior and I really believe … he can beat him,” Hoffman said about his teammate. “He can beat that kid. He’s really not that good and Timmy’s an excellent wrestler.”
Popple fell behind 2-0 early in his match and trailed 2-1 entering the second period. Corbett chose neutral and Popple earned a pair of takedowns while allowing an escape to take a 5-3 lead after the first four minutes.
As usual, Popple chose top in the third period and picked up two back points en route to a 7-3 victory. But it wasn’t easy.
According to the Crusader, Corbett was the first wrestler this season to get a point for an escape against him.
“I was kind of shocked (he got the escape), but I wasn’t afraid going on top in the third period,” Popple said. “I knew I could hold him down, he just got out of me once. He’s one of the few, if there is any, to escape on me this year.”
Hoffman, a junior, was in a tight battle with Cedar Cliff’s Grant Dickey in their second-round consolation bout at 171.
They were deadlocked 1-1 after Hoffman managed an escape 10 seconds into the third period. The Cougars standout then picked up a takedown with 39 seconds to go up 3-1.
Dickey got an escape of his own late in the period and Hoffman held off several takedown attempts to hang on for the win.
Hoffman, who wrestled back the last two weeks at the District 2 Class 3A and Northeast Regional tournaments to take third both times, is hoping for the same success today when the third round of consolations start at 8 a.m.
“That would be sweet,” Hoffman said of possibly taking third again. “These two matches are the toughest matches of my life because you know in a match that it’s that close and you just have to push it for five minutes in the consolation bracket.
“I can’t wait to wrestle again. I’m ready to go.”
From the Lackawanna League, Delaware Valley’s C.J. Palmer was upset in the 119 quarterfinals, then lost his match in the losers bracket and was eliminated. Abington Heights’ 285-pounder Morgan Craig bowed out in the same way.